While it is childishly simple to recognize that it takes 2 to go from 6 to 8, that simple equation veils a vast wealth of hidden glory in the two avenues of our Creator’s testimony. The number 6 is the divinely appointed number assigned to identify everything related to the curse of sin and death that resulted from Adam & Eve’s contradiction of the Creator’s righteousness in Eden. The number 8 is the divinely appointed number assigned to identify salvation, immortality and our Savior. The difference between curse (6) and blessing (8) and death (6) and life (8) is this number 2. So we need to ask WHY this is the case.
We have noted how the 6 alphanumeric Greek letters in the name of Jesus add up to 888. He is our savior. He is the man of righteousness. Those three 8’s shadow prophesy of the 3 immortalization events in the Creator’s plan (1) Jesus, 2) the saints at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom in the 7th day and 3) the saints just after the conclusion of the Millennial Kingdom in the 8th divine day).
The man of sin is numerically identified by 666. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six (Revelation 13:18).
Before being able to address the huge significance of the difference between 6 and 8, let’s cement this observation concerning how that number 8 is identified with our Messiah, by noting more of its 3 dimensional nature.
The Bible testimony resulting from the ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is what we call the New Testament. It should not be surprising there have been a highly appropriate 8 sub-authors of the New Testament. These are 1) Matthew, 2) Mark, 3) Luke, 4) John, 5) Paul, 6) James, 7) Peter and 8) Jude. However, admittedly, the entire New Testament was divinely inspired by Yahweh (the one true author).
Although there was a very long list of divinely required rituals during the 1st Kingdom Age we only see exactly 4 rituals divinely mandated during the current Ecclesial Age … that began about 2 millenniums ago. These 4 rituals are 1) baptism, 2) memorial service, 3) headcoverings during prayer and 4) Sister’s silence during Ecclesial worship. There is an absolute dual aspect to each of these 4 Ecclesial Age rituals, accessing that same ‘8’ identification with salvation and particularly our savior.
Baptism offers an obvious dual aspect as there are 2 components to any baptism projecting those 2 aspects of death and resurrection. We voluntarily descend into that water grave to validate our Creator’s righteousness in demanding death for sin in Eden. We rise again from that water grave and thereby shadow testify of our Creator’s righteousness in extending renewed life on the basis of grace, despite being right in demanding our death. This death and life testimony in the 2 baptism stages are referenced in Romans 6:3-5,11.
That dual aspect in the Memorial Service is quite obvious in those 2 components of bread and wine but doubly emphasized in that the bread has to be broken. That cleaving of the symbol of the body of Christ is a very common theme in a salvation context all through scripture including the tearing of the temple veil (also representing the flesh of Christ, Heb. 10:19-20); the cleaving of the rock at Rephidim to save the enlightened community from a thirsty death (Ps. 78:15, Is. 48:21, also representing Christ-1 Cor. 10:1-4); the cleaving of the Red Sea to save Israel from the murderous Egyptian cavalry; and the cleaving of the Jordan River to permit the enlightened community to inherit the promised land under Joshua’s leadership just before Passover. Interestingly that Jordan River running from the sea of life to the north into the sea of death in the south was miraculously cleaved on exactly 3 occasions with the 2nd and 3rd being by Elijah and Elisha.
There are 2 ‘gender’ based Ecclesial Age rituals that share this dual emphasis. Brethren are forbidden from ever wearing a headcovering during either a prayer or prophesying. Sisters are required to cover their heads during any prayer at any time and were required to cover their heads during that 2 generational term at the beginning of the Ecclesial Age when the faithful (both men and women) could have the capacity to prophesy due to possessing that particular gift of the Holy Spirit. Once again we not only see a dual emphasis in this 2 gender based ritual but also its dual application of both praying and prophesying.
The 4th Ecclesial Age ritual was the 2nd that was gender based. Sisters were required to remain silent during worship and not serve as teachers of Brethren, only other Sisters and children. Therefore Brethren were required to educate, direct the Ecclesia and lead the worship activities. One gender is silent and one gender cannot be silent. Despite having the capacity to miraculously prophesy, Sisters were still required to be silent in the environment of the Ecclesia. At the conclusion of Paul’s rebuke in how the Corinthian Ecclesia was inappropriately exercising the gifts of the Holy Spirit within the Ecclesia the Apostle demands the complete silence of Sisters. As in all churches of the saints, let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak (1 Cor. 14:33-34).
These 2 gender based rituals have their independent applications based on the 2 genders originally designed by the Creator. If we foolishly presume there are more than 2 genders by showing any respect to the divinely insulting presumptions of the society of the Sons of Men with their multiple LGBTH gender assignments, we suicidally contradict the divine pattern of the significance of this number 2 in the context of salvation.
This relationship between 6 (sin & death) and 8 (righteousness and life) in the context of a pattern including the number 3 (identifying the number of immortalization events) is rather consistent in both scripture (the written word of God) and creation (the spoken word of God).
If we are tempted to dismiss this dual pattern in the 4 Ecclesial Age rituals as inconsequential and unrelated to our Messiah’s identification with the number 8, it should be understood this is not an isolated pattern at all. The exact same pattern is demonstrated in the 8 people saved on Noah’s Ark. Just like the family of the saints that are now baptized into the one family name of the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19), there was one family on that salvation ark. There were 4 divisions of 2 in that family with 4 husbands and 4 wives, perfectly matching the 4 Ecclesial Age rituals with their dual emphasis and including a particular gender emphasis in 2 of those 4 rituals.
The heaven and earth covenant between God and Abram demonstrates this exact same pattern in the 2 sets of animal categories of the cleaved beasts of the earth and the whole fowl of heaven (Gen. 15). The 3 beasts of the earth that are each 3 years old are cleaved into 6 sacrificial components, to which are added the 2 fowl of heaven. There is an unfathomable depth of glory in the details of this covenant sacrifice. The 3 genders of the 3 year old earthbound beasts perfectly parallel the spiritual gender identifications of the 3 parties to be immortalized (blending of earth & heaven) over 3 divine days in the Creator’s plan. The 3 year old ram parallels Christ, the groom in his marriage to the saints. The 3 year old heifer (female) and 3 year old she-goat parallel the two sets of Christ’s bride at the 2 immortalization events of the saints. These 3 immortalization events are scheduled over 3 divine days totaling 3,000 years (Ps. 90:4; 2 Pet. 3:8). God required Abram to place those 8 sacrificial components into 2 rows, perfectly paralleling the 4 Ecclesial Age rituals with their obvious dual focus. Further emphasizing the legitimacy of this pattern in how each of the 4 parallel items share a foundational emphasis of 8 is how each of the earth beasts have 4 feet that are cloven hooves. This constitutes an 8 component foundation that is actually 4 sets of 2 (just like the family on the Ark with 4 sets of 2). Even the 2 fowl of heaven share a similar identification as each of the 2 (genderless) sacrificial birds have a 4 talon foundation to provide that same pattern of 8 in that 4th sacrificial stage. Is not Jesus, the man of eights, the foundation of our salvation hope?
This same 4 plus 4 pattern seen in the Ecclesial Age rituals, Noah’s Ark and Abram’s covenant is silently shouted to those with hearing ears, over and over in Ezekiel’s 3 cherubim visions. We will address these silent shouts in our next post as we continue to address this issue of why it takes 2 to go go from 6 to 8; why it takes 2 to go from sin to righteousness and from death to life.